Battle Bullying

| Jul 20, 2015
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I got an email from Senator Al Franken the other day. I often open his emails since he used to be a comedy writer and he tends to add a bit of humor to his pleas for campaign donations.

This email wasn’t one of those perpetual fundraising messages though. It was a call to fight bullying of LGBT youth.

I was bullied in school and I remember how it hurt, and how it kept me diverted from the primary reason I was in school — to get educated. When you’re worrying about who’s going to shake you down for your lunch money or play “keep away” with your book bag it’s hard to concentrate on your lessons.

I wasn’t exhibiting any trans tendencies when I was a kid in school. I didn’t wear makeup to class or paint my nails. I got picked on just because I was different. I was small. Had no athletic abilities and wore glasses. “Hey four eyes!”

LGBT kids today are far more likely to be more openly LGBT and thus more likely to be harassed, picked on or physically hurt. Senator Franken is concerned about LGBT kids and has started an online petition aimed at supporting his efforts to get legal protections passed that will put an end to bullying.

As he said in his email message, “30% of LGBT kids report missing a day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe going in. . . This isn’t a reality that anyone should have to put up with — let alone a child who’s just trying to learn.”

Join Senator Franken in support of this legislation and sign his Online Petition calling for legal protections for LGBT kids.

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Category: Transgender Opinion, Transgender Politics

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About the Author ()

Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.

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